The United States has declared monkeypox a public health
emergency.
Xavier Becerra, secretary of the US department of health and
human services, announced this in a briefing with journalists on Thursday.
“I want to make an announcement today that I will be
declaring a public health emergency,” he said.
“We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in
addressing this virus and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously
and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus.
“We continue to marshal forward the tools that we need to
make sure that we can take on monkeypox and keep it from spreading to the point
of becoming endemic.
“There should be no reason why we can’t stay ahead of this
if we all work together.”
In a social media post, Becerra confirmed that he had signed
the public health emergency.
The declaration allows government agencies to quickly direct
money towards developing and evaluating vaccines and drugs, to gain access to
emergency funding and to hire additional workers to help manage the outbreak.
It also allows the health secretary to declare an emergency
that usually lasts for 90 days, but may be extended.
The action comes after some states — California, Illinois
and New York — declared their own emergencies.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had already declared the
virus to be a global health emergency.
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the US
has reported over 7,000 cases of monkeypox. Cases have been identified in every
state except Montana and Wyoming.
The majority of people infected with monkeypox in the
country are men who have sex with men.
The Biden administration has been criticised for its handling
of the outbreak, and some had called on the government to declare a national
emergency without delay.
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